A blog for eaters

Archive for the tag “pub grub”

Probably one of the most remarkable burger creations in Ramona, and my personal favorite, is the ‘Maple Bourbon Bacon Burger’ at Way Point Saloon. A half pound pure beef patty is seared on the grill then basted with a maple syrup/brown sugar/cayenne pepper/bourbon glaze. It all seeps into the meat while it finishes cooking and gets slightly caramelized on the edges. What sends this burger over the top has to be the mound of deep fried red onions & jalapeños! Outstanding flavor combinations going on here.

Outstanding hot dogs now at Cheers of Ramona, made with Hebrew National all-beef franks. Base price is only $1.50 each and you can stack it with pretty much anything they have in their kitchen (except the sink) for a nominal extra fee. Here’s mine adorned with grilled onions, chopped jalapeño, bacon and shredded cheese. Just excellent, that I can tell you!

Recently tried Eastbound Bar & Grill in beautiful downtown Lakeside! We absolutely fell in love with this place! I really like a good loaded fries type dish so we went in for one of their “Skillet Fries” creations. This is the Carne Asada Chipotle Cheese. Fries blanketed with melted cheddar jack, chipotle sauce and carne asada. Outstanding! Also shown below is The Rodeo burger. Fatty half pounder with cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce and two crispy onion rings. And you can’t go wrong with 26 beers on tap! There’s something for everyone here.

Probably one of the most remarkable burger creations in town, and my personal favorite, is the ‘Maple Bourbon Bacon Burger’. A half pound pure beef patty is seared on the grill then basted with a maple syrup/brown sugar/cayenne pepper/bourbon glaze. It all seeps into the meat while it finishes cooking and gets slightly caramelized on the edges. What sends this burger over the top has to be the mound of deep fried red onions & jalapeños! Outstanding flavor combinations and textures going on here.

There are a lot of great burgers around town but this one has always been a standout for me. Highly recommended.

The new loaded boneless wings at Chili’s are outstanding! They are smothered in a white queso, 3-cheese blend, applewood smoked bacon & chopped green onions. Served with a side of house made ranch dressing. I usually prefer my chicken on a bone but these were outrageous good! Best part was not feeling like I had to take a shower after eating it!

Finally got in to Cheers of Ramona to see how the new ownership is going! I have to say, the new woodwork is just breathtaking! Really classes the place up. It diminishes some of the dive bar feel but not so much that it loses the familiar charm. I’d say it’s a nice balance. Before, I felt like I needed a tetanus shot before going in… Not any more. Some of the old, unkempt, disheveled booths are gone, but seating at the bar is ample and comfortable with high back, padded seats.

The menu is easier to understand and handle now. Down to a large, single two-sided sheet with many of the old favorites. All burgers now come standard with a side of fries! I ordered The “Horseman” for $13.99. Made with a quarter pound burger topped with American cheese (I subbed Swiss), a pile of pastrami, grilled onions, pickles and hot mustard sauce. Overall this was an outstanding burger. I think the grilled onions were missed, but that’s ok. The generous portion of thick sliced pickles made up for it. The quarter pound patty was pretty thick which made its circumference disproportionately small to the size of the bun. I discussed with the chefs and we all agreed that a thin, flatter patty would be best in this case, particularly when piling pastrami on top of it. The bun seemed to be a fresh, high quality brioche style that held this hot mess together flawlessly. It had a nice chew and mouth feel.

Service from everyone was just phenomenal! We felt so welcomed and taken care of. If you haven’t been to Cheers in a while (or ever), do yourself a favor and check out this smartly improved bar sometime. A bar that happens to serve some very good food.

The other night we tried some appetizer/small plates at Way Point Saloon. Here’s an order of “Island Fries” ($9.25). Not sure what’s island about them but it was pretty tasty. Crispy crinkle fries topped with Cheddar cheese sauce, shredded Cheddar, bacon, green onion & sour cream. Served with Frank’s & ranch.

I personally like their beer battered fries better but I can see why they use the crinkle cuts with this dish. All the ripples need to grab on to the topping stuff. Still need to eat it with a fork. It’s a big enough serving for two people to share without eating much else. It had a fairly conservative amount of cheese (sauce and shred), I felt it could have used more. Everything else was proportioned well. After a while though, the tastes all ran together and it felt like you were just eating a big plate of fries. Seems like something else could have been added to complete this dish or bind it all together, I just can’t put my finger on it.

Since Gail does not do “chicken on a bone”, I ordered the boneless wings (strips). You can get their wings tossed in a wide variety of creative flavors. We chose the “lemon, pepper, parmesan” and it was excellent.

Way Point Saloon has the most impressive onion ring tower I’ve encountered! What stands out for me is how hot & crispy they come out of the kitchen coupled with an outstanding fry sauce. The rings here are beer battered and definitely in the top two of Ramona when it comes to onion rings. 23 draft beers on tap is a pretty good draw too!

Last Par Lounge appetizer for now. Here’s their outstanding potato skins! Happy hour price only $6.25. We’ve ordered these here over the years and sometimes they’ve been kind of gnarly.This one was excellent. Comes out with four huge, hot, crispy tater skins filled with a liberal amount of melted jack & cheddar cheese, a conservative amount of bacon and a few chopped green onions. These things could always use more bacon, that I can tell you! Served with a side of ranch and sour cream.